A Poet, a revolution, and a fallen angel

For most of us, it's difficult to find time for poetry. Enjoying a poem requires a certain timelessness which is hard to find in our hectic daily lives. And for a 12-act epic poem like Paradise Lost, well… it can be intimidating. That’s why I want to take the time to express my admiration and enthusiasm for Milton and his work, in hopes that someone will take the time to explore it.

John Milton's first published poem, at the age of 24, appeared in a very distinguished place--the preface to the Second Folio of Shakespeare! Then a student at Cambridge, he was already a highly respected wordsmith. His early poems were mainly religious or secular sonnets in Latin. He earned a government pension as a poet, and his reputation spread across Europe.

In 1644, at the age of 36, he felt compelled to give up his quiet life to intervene in politics. Before that, he occasionally published anonymous pamphlets, but this time he openly defied government censorship to publish a defense of free speech, Areopagitica. As he put it:

"[With] small willingness I [...] leave a calm and pleasing solitariness fed with cheerful and confident thoughts, to embark in a troubled sea of noises and hoarse disputes, put from beholding the bright countenance of Truth in the quiet and still air of delightful studies to come into the dim reflexion of hollow antiquities sold by the seeming bulk."

1641-1660 was a transformative period in British history (now called the British Civil Wars). It started as a civil war between the secular and religious aristocracy of England (Parliamentarians and Presbyterians) and the king and archbishop. After their initial military victory, Parliament split on the issue of religious freedom: Presbyterians wanted enforced Presbyterianism across Britain, while the Independents supported religious toleration. “Parliament's Army” was mainly Independent commoners, and when the dust settled, the king was executed and England became a secular republic under the control of Parliament. After conquering Scotland and Ireland, the Independent general Oliver Cromwell seized power in 1653 and became de facto king. After his death in 1659, the Republic collapsed; Parliament was re-formed and the son of the executed king was returned to the throne ("the Restoration"). There was considerable bloodshed and repression during the Civil Wars, but overall British society became more liberal and democratic.

(Incidentally, during this period there was also a major shift in the English language: present-tense verbs like moveth, eateth, jumpeth inexplicably became moves, eats, jumps.)

In the early years, Milton risked his life to defend freedom of speech and religious toleration. When the Republic was founded he became its chief diplomat, and remained so despite Cromwell's increasingly illiberal policies. He published several famous poems praising Cromwell, but their actual relationship is unknown. It is also unclear why he wasn’t executed along with the other Republicans at the Restoration.

The early years of the Restoration were a terrible time for Milton. The freedoms he had fought for were being eliminated; he was so unpopular that he couldn't safely walk the streets; his wife died in childbirth, leaving him with three young children; and a chronic infirmity left him completely blind. This was his state of mind when he wrote his greatest work, Paradise Lost.

Paradise Lost is a Homeric epic poem based on Satan's war against God and his temptation of Eve. An epic is a comprehensive record of the major characters and themes of mythology, driven by a central story about a Hero, that is, someone who acts out of free will and not under the control of divine powers. Here we can see Milton’s exceptional subtlety—his readers expect a Hero, yet the central figure is Lucifer himself. Milton was a devout Christian, and he would never present Satan as a heroic or sympathetic figure. Even so, many readers have sympathy for Lucifer from his eloquent and tenacious defense of liberty. How can this be explained? In his life, Milton met many Luciferian “heroes,” immoral rebels who used liberty as a call to arms; the Hero question brings his readers face-to-face with this moral ambiguity. In other words, he used a 2000-year-old literary form to attack the moral lapses of his countrymen. Seen through this prism, many Christian figures acquire a new layer of meaning.

(A closer reading of the text shows that despite his prominence, Lucifer cannot be the Hero because he has no real free will: he will always fight against God. Adam and Eve passively receive temptation then divine wisdom, and the angels all follow God or Lucifer. The only figure who shows free will is Christ, who intervenes with mercy and later with vengeance against the Fallen Angels.)

Milton was ingenious in his poetry as well. He was fluent in English, French, Italian, Latin, ancient Greek, and Hebrew, so he knew the origins of many English words. With ingenious syntax and spelling, he produced many double meanings. When Satan “affronts” God, he offends Him but also stands face to face. When Satan is “transported by rage” he is overcome with emotion but also propels himself forward. This rich language is woven throughout the whole poem.

For the sake of brevity, I can only scratch the surface. There are numerous critics who illuminate one facet or another of his genius (notably Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Northrop Frye, and Christopher Ricks) for those who are interested in reading further.